Help me: Australian paraded after drug arrest

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Petrified ... Schapelle Leigh Corby, 27, is led by a drug investigation officer back to her prison cell in Denpasar.Photo: Brendan Esposito

A Gold Coast student who could face the death penalty for
allegedly trying to smuggle marijuana into Bali has spoken of her
distress and asked for help

As Schapelle Leigh Corby was being led back to her cell in
Bali's central police station after two hours of questioning
yesterday, she told a Herald photographer: "I'm petrified,
I'm scared - help me." Visibly shaking, she sent a message to her
mother and sick father in Tugun on the Gold Coast: "Tell my mum and
dad I love them."

The 27-year-old beauty school student, who was arrested on
Friday when she arrived in Bali from Brisbane, is being held on
suspicion of possessing drugs, an offence that carries a maximum
penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine. However, if police
believe she has imported or dealt drugs, prosecutors can call for
the death penalty. Police allege they found 4.1 kilograms of
marijuana packed in a plastic bag inside a bodyboard bag.

At a media conference yesterday, the head of Bali's drug squad,
Lieutenant-Colonel Bambang Sugiarto, said Ms Corby spent most of
her time in her cell crying and often visited the toilet for long
periods, refusing to come out when asked.

"Police will wait until she's calm before they continue the
questioning," he said.

Ms Corby has denied the drugs were hers. Her defence team say
they are investigating whether the drugs could have been planted on
their client.

Colonel Sugiarto showed journalists the drugs and the bag in
which they were allegedly found, along with a yellow bodyboard and
a pair of fins. There had been no attempt to conceal the drugs
beyond putting them in the bodyboard bag, which was not locked
before it was checked in at Brisbane Airport.

Colonel Sugiarto said the marijuana was of a type known locally
as "lemon juice", which was stronger and more aromatic than the
strain normally found in Indonesia. He said he had an informant in
Bali who claimed to know Ms Corby but that police had not had a
chance to question the informant fully.

Indonesian police have asked for Australian help in the
investigation, particularly information about any past record.

Ms Corby was travelling to Bali with her stepbrother and two
friends to visit her sister, Mercedes, who is married to a Balinese
man and works on the island, when she was arrested. Her
stepbrother, named as James Sioli Kisina, was also questioned
yesterday.

Colonel Sugiarto said the marijuana haul was the largest
seized coming in from Australia. He noted that most marijuana
smuggling cases involved the drug being taken out of Indonesia
rather than being brought in, and that international airports like
Sydney generally screened for drugs in outgoing luggage.